Monday, April 21, 2008

Mute Beat One Night Live

On April 2, 2008, Mute Beat performed a one night only reunion gig at Liquid Room in Tokyo. Even though the show was sold out the minute tickets went on sale, I managed to get in to see the show.

The first time I heard Mute Beat was in 1990. I was in Tower Records at 4th & Broadway and saw a cassette with a trumpet over a red circle called "Mute Beat in Dub". The sign said something about that this was a Japanese dub reggae band. I couldnt believe the idea. All we knew about Japanese music was YMO. I still remember walking up Broadway with that tape in my Walkman and being blown away by the sounds I heard.

Who were these guys? I didnt know how to say the names except for Dub Master X (what a cool name that was) and I couldnt find any information about the band except what was written in the tape insert. I wore out three copies of that cassette listening to it over the years. The year before I came to Japan the album was released on CD. Of course since I came here I've found all their releases but I still listen to "Mute Beat in Dub" regularly.

Of course I dreamed of seeing this band, but by the time I moved to Japan they had broken up. Tonight one of my dreams became reality (big up to the man who made that happen, you know who you are). The band was in great form! Matsunaga-san's bass shook the ground, Gota-san's drumming was tight, Kodama-san & Masui-san's horns blew down the walls of Jericho, Asamoto-san's keyboards kept the skank and DMX's mix glued it all together.

I waited 18 years for this show. It was worth the wait. Thank you Mute Beat!

Setlist:

(intro) DMX BEAT〜DAY SHOULD TURN TO NIGHT
01. AFTER THE RAIN
02. METRO
03. LANDSCAPE
04. ORGAN'S MELODY
05. TAKE 5 (DUB NO.5)
06. BUTTERFLY〜MIXED UP
07. WHISKY BAR
08. SUNNY SIDE WALK
09. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
10. COFFIA

ENCORE 1
11. STILL ECHO
12. BEAT AWAY

ENCORE 2
13. JENKA
14. SUMMERTIME〜FROZEN SUN

ENCORE 3
15. WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD


intro and part of Metro

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi there,i need to contact you about getting a release out over at your end.
please contact me
many thanks
pace

pm on blood/fire

6:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very good!
I saw some pictures from him, at the Riddim Magazine.Just the pictures, cause I dont know japonese..rs
Im learning..
bless!

5:03 PM  

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